Tying my shoelaces: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/grannyknot.htm
I was doing what Ian calls the "Un-balanced Shoelace Knot". Reversing the starting knot makes all the difference.
Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
91–100 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#92I realised most of my basic health routine was useless to detrimental: - Soap: it disrupt the skin microbiome. Only useful for hand washing and to clean private parts / the bottom. Even then use high quality soap like Marseille soap or Aleppo soap. Note: Also as mentioned in the comments if you avoid soap / deodorant you *will* probably need to shower two times a day even without doing physical activities. Three time…
I heard conflicting info on this. I thought you were not supposed to use soap for private parts?
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#93Thinking that most people have good intentions.
I think it’s a good practice to assume that people have good/average intentions. Nobody is the villain in the story they tell themselves. I get farther in life with this philosophy:
Nobody is out to get me. Also, it’s a C+ world out there, with a lot of incompetent people.
Be smart, and be very careful about whether you trust somebody to deliver the outcome that you want. But if they mess it up, come up with some reasons other than “so-and-so is evil” or "so-and-so hates me". It’ll help your state of mind, and also your interactions with them.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#94Thinking that most people have good intentions.
i'm the opposite, how to balance it?
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#95You aren't supposed to rinse your mouth with water after brushing your teeth. You're supposed to spit excess, but leave the toothpaste on to absorb.
I'm glad to be wrong on that one
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#96Pasta and sauce are not meant to be separate. Once you cook the pasta, drain it, and immediately toss with the sauce. This is part of the reason it was meant to be al dente, to absorb and deliver the flavor of the sauce better. Unlike rice, it's fine to "soak" pasta in the sauce; it expands when freshly cooked but not when cool. Also most sauce recipes are probably overcomplicated. Most need less than 5 ingredients.…
I really thought I hated spaghetti growing up. My parents would boil the noodles and then pour room temp sauce from a jar at the table individually. It was inedible. I was visiting a friend and had it all cooked together in the pan for the first time and it was eye opening.
Room temp sauce on cooked pasta?! Just gagged reading this.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#97Chef knives are designed to be held by pinching the blade between the forefinger and the thumb, and wrapping the rest of your fingers around the handle. I used to wrap all my fingers around the handle, until Jacques Pepin showed me how to do it properly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMA2SqaDgG8
An ex with commercial kitchen experience taught me this. My own experience is that, having held and used a knife the right way even once, the wrong way feels wrong forever after.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#98For the past 15 years or so, every night before bedtime I would proclaim “Time to hit the shack!” or “I’m going to hit the shack”. In reality it is a “sack” that you hit, not a “shack”.
For all intensive purposes, they're the same. (I'd been saying "intensive" instead of "intents and" until my mid 20s)
*edit: Fixed a spelling mistake. It's still early here... :-p
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#99Pasta and sauce are not meant to be separate. Once you cook the pasta, drain it, and immediately toss with the sauce. This is part of the reason it was meant to be al dente, to absorb and deliver the flavor of the sauce better. Unlike rice, it's fine to "soak" pasta in the sauce; it expands when freshly cooked but not when cool. Also most sauce recipes are probably overcomplicated. Most need less than 5 ingredients.…
> it expands when freshly cooked but not when cool.
Make noodle soup and let it sit in the fridge for a week. It will expand.
Re: Ask HN: Something you’ve done your whole life that you realized is wrong?
#100I realised most of my basic health routine was useless to detrimental: - Soap: it disrupt the skin microbiome. Only useful for hand washing and to clean private parts / the bottom. Even then use high quality soap like Marseille soap or Aleppo soap. Note: Also as mentioned in the comments if you avoid soap / deodorant you *will* probably need to shower two times a day even without doing physical activities. Three time…
This is actually something I found myself doing the past few years. A good wash cloth and self made products are 1000x better than the heavy duty chemicals we put on our bodies everyday. I have a rule: If I can't eat it, don't use in externally either.